Rob Smedley says the resurfaced Spielberg circuit was a factor in Williams' "pretty mediocre" showing at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Austria had been one of Williams' strongest venues over the past two seasons, with Felipe Massa taking pole position in 2014 and back-to-back podium finishes. Despite high expectations going into the weekend the team had to settle for ninth position with Valtteri Bottas, while Massa retired with a brake issue with ten laps remaining.
The Red Bull Ring had been resurfaced in the weeks leading up to the race and Smedley, the team's head of performance, thinks this was a major reason the team struggled to match its previous form.
"It was not where we need to be," Smedley said. "It was just pretty mediocre throughout, we didn't have the pace in the car itself. Valtteri wasn't able to make the tyres last, which is a little bit strange for him, but even without that, the pace in the car just wasn't there.
"With the asphalt changes they have made here, I think it's a different circuit. We need to try and understand it, we need more expertise in that area and to improve our knowledge of tyre science."
Williams' race hopes had not been helped by Massa needing to start from the pit lane ahead of the race after the team found damage on the updated front wing the Brazilian had been running.
"We noticed that there was some structural damage to it, on the mainplane. We may have been able to do some of the race on it, but we weren't prepared to take that risk.
"The safety of our drivers and our people is paramount so we took the decision we would change that front wing and upon doing that, we rolled back to the old spec. Even though we had a downgrade in performance, we had broken the parc ferme rules and we had to start from the pitlane."
Smedley believes the damage was a "fatigue issue" caused by the kerbs at Turn 2. Austria's kerbs had been a controversial subject throughout the weekend after causing a number of suspension failures in practice.
One positive for the team is that it continued its incredible run of lightning fast pit stops, topping the charts for the ninth race in a row with Massa's 2.2s stop. Pit stops were an area the team struggled with in previous seasons.